A crop of the capital's fastest-growing tech startups led by women are headed off on a trade mission to Silicon Valley next week to explore investment, expansion and export opportunities in the US.

The four-day trade mission led by the mayor's international business programme and Silicon Valley Comes to the UK will give the 15 founders the opportunity to pitch to West Coast venture capital firms, learn from US founders about scaling their firms internationally, and meet high-profile executives as tech behemoths Google and Facebook.

The 15 businesses selected have an average growth rate of over 75 per cent per year, based over the past three years. They include Merilee Karr, founder and chief executive of short-term accommodation association UnderTheDoormat, Pip Jamieson, the founder of professional networking site The Dots, and Jessica Taylor of games studio Preloaded.

According to investment data from the official promotional firm for the capital, London & Partners, last year was a record 12 months for venture capital funding into UK tech firms from Bay Area investors.

British companies landed over £1.6bn in funding, nearly three times the £538m raised in 2016.